jack

\ ˈjak

plural jacks

Definition of jack

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a jacks plural in form but singular in construction : a game played with a set of small objects that are tossed, caught, and moved in various figures

b : a small 6-pointed metal object used in the game of jacks

2a : a playing card carrying the figure of a soldier or servant and ranking usually below the queen

b : jackpot sense 1b(2)

3 : any of various usually mechanical devices: such as

a : a usually portable mechanism or device for exerting pressure or lifting a heavy body a short distance

b : a device for turning a spit

4 : a female fitting in an electric circuit used with a plug to make a connection with another circuit

5a : man —usually used as an intensive in such phrases as every man jack

b often capitalized : sailor

c(1) : servant, laborer

(2) : lumberjack

6 : something that supports or holds in position: such as

a : an iron bar at a topgallant masthead to support a royal mast and spread the royal shrouds

b : a wooden brace fastened behind a scenic unit in a stage set to prop it up

7a : any of several fishes especially : any of various carangids

b : a male donkey

c : jackrabbit

d : any of several birds (such as a jackdaw)

8a : a small white target ball in lawn bowling

b : a small national flag flown by a ship

9 slang : money

10a : applejack

b : brandy

11 : jackknife sense 2

12 : monterey jack

13 US slang : anything at all —used in negative constructionsIn short, Dinger or Homer or whoever it was who wrote the Odyssey didn't know jack about travel.— Steve Rushin

jack

verb

jacked; jacking; jacks

Definition of jack (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1a : to move or lift by or as if by a jack

b : to raise the level of —usually used with upjack up the price

c : to take to task

2 : to hunt or fish for at night with a jacklight

intransitive verb

: to hunt or fish at night with a jacklight

Other Words from jack Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about jack

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Examples of jack in a Sentence

Noun I'd buy that watch, but I don't have the jack right now. a Portuguese ship flying the national jack

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun There’s no headphone jack, which will disappoint long-time Samsung fans. — courant.com, "CNET: Best phones for 2019," 6 Sep. 2019 Rides, kid’s games, poker, black jack, bars-n-bells and many more games of chance. — Luann Gibbs, Cincinnati.com, "Things to do this week in Cincinnati: Aug. 26-Sept. 2," 26 Aug. 2019 The native bird life was raucous, brilliant colored and poetically named—lousy jacks, mulga parrots, rosellas, willy wagtails and lorikeets. — David Maurice Smith, Smithsonian, "A 42,000-Year-Old Man Finally Goes Home," 23 Aug. 2019 Swap in Monterey jack, or any deli sliced cheese, for the pepper jack. — Becky Krystal, The Denver Post, "How to upgrade your sandwich with clever twists on 5 classics," 22 Aug. 2019 Swap in Monterey jack, or any deli sliced cheese, for the pepper jack. — Becky Krystal, Washington Post, "How to upgrade your favorite sandwich," 21 Aug. 2019 One bedroom has a jack-and-jill bathroom with subway tile and marble. — Emma Kate Fittes, Indianapolis Star, "Hot Property: California contemporary home stands out among traditional West Clay homes," 19 July 2019 The company, which makes a wide-ranging set of low-cost gaming accessories, has a new gamepad called the Faceoff Deluxe Plus for the Switch that comes with a 3.5mm jack built in. — Nick Statt, The Verge, "This $25 Nintendo Switch controller supports in-game Fortnite chat with a headphone jack," 15 July 2019 Three community cards, a jack of spades, a 5 of diamonds, and a king of clubs, were dealt. — Daniela Hernandez, WSJ, "Computers Can Now Bluff Like a Poker Champ. Better, Actually.," 11 July 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Bichette’s onslaught didn’t matter much on Thursday given that 25-year-old lefty Thomas Pannone was clobbered for seven runs in 2 1/3 innings to jack his ERA all the way up to 6.83. — Jon Tayler, SI.com, "Bo Bichette's Historic Start to His Career Makes Blue Jays' Future Even More Exciting," 9 Aug. 2019 However, the biggest motive for FaceApp to collect your information is most likely ad targeting, and the motive to make a scary face-aging filter is likely just to jack up downloads so that more people are dumping info into the data set. — Kaitlyn Tiffany, Vox, "Anime brings in more than $19 billion a year. Its artists are earning barely enough to survive.," 17 July 2019 Experts say that means auction houses are free to use shills to jack up the bidding. — Dennis Wagner, azcentral, "Fake bids drive up prices on popular site Auction Nation, Republic finds," 24 June 2019 Seven days of hearings Hundreds of companies began queuing up to testify in Washington on Monday for seven days of hearings on the Trump administration's proposal to jack up tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese imports. — Rachel Layne, CBS News, "Tariffs on China goods will hit women shoppers hardest, JC Penney argues," 20 June 2019 Over time, Russia has continued to jack up the price, and now charges NASA more than $80 million a seat. — Christian Davenport, Washington Post, "SpaceX and Boeing continue to struggle with spacecraft designs, as watchdog raises safety concerns," 20 June 2019 And with his boyish grin, cropped hair and stage gestures like proudly placing his fist at his hip, Mendes at times looked a bit like Peter Pan Tuesday — except he was really jacked. — Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Shawn Mendes keeps getting better in concert with uplifting Fiserv Forum show in Milwaukee," 6 July 2018 Removal of the cap jacks up annual fees for large businesses, such as the Burbank Town Center, which would pay an additional $100,000 per year, Hill said. — Andrew J. Campa, Burbank Leader, "Burbank Unified looks for redo, places another parcel tax on ballot," 2 Aug. 2019 What jacked us up was watching our quarterback dive nine or 10 yards without his helmet. — Gary Peterson, The Mercury News, "C.J. Beathard block excites 49ers, evokes Steve Young’s helmetless run," 30 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'jack.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.